In recent years, there has been a dramatic increase in demand for mobile connectivity solutions utilizing various wireless components and wireless local area networks (WLANs). This generally involves the use of wireless access points that communicate with mobile devices using one or more RF channels.
In one class of wireless networking systems, relatively unintelligent access ports act as RF conduits for information that is passed to the network through a centralized intelligent switch, or “wireless switch,” which controls wireless network functions. In such systems, however, set-up of the wireless switch and access points can be difficult.
That is, while in traditional access points the system begins working, with minimal configuration, as soon as it is installed at the edge of a standard Ethernet network, wireless switches and corresponding access ports are typically installed manually. This requires an administrator to carefully assign WLANs to basic service sets and specific access ports. As the number of wireless switches and access ports increases, this task becomes increasingly cumbersome.
Furthermore, after access ports are assigned to switches and basic service sets, the individual access ports must be configured. This typically involves downloading to the access port a configuration image that sets certain default parameters, which might require additional tuning by the administrator.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide wireless switches and access ports that can be set up in an efficient and scalable manner. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.